


The Glove

by ambiguously



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canonical Character Death, Force-Sensitive Finn, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-23 05:16:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11396094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Kylo Ren discovers a Force sensitive stormtrooper in the ranks and decides to train him himself.





	The Glove

**Author's Note:**

  * For [celeste9](https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by [celeste9](https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9) in the [FinnloFest](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/FinnloFest) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
>  Finn is Force-sensitive. Kylo wants an apprentice.
> 
> DNWs: mpreg, A/B/O, knotting, non-con, soulmates or anything with predetermination, love spells/potions, infidelity (but I’m good with open relationships as long as everyone is on the same page), character or ship bashing, character death for the explicit purpose of freeing up a character romantically, non-canon kids and pregnancy, childbirth, always a girl

Kylo read the report again.

To any other observer, the words on the screen meant little. The stormtrooper's reflexes were within the range of normal, if at the high end. His tested intelligence was similarly high but not unnaturally so. "A good soldier," said his commanding officer. The rest of the document said something else, but only to someone who knew what to look for.

In another life, the gormless boy he'd been had shadowed the great, pathetic Luke Skywalker as he'd scoured the galaxy searching for other Force sensitives. They'd found so few, scattered between pockets of survivors from the old purge and their descendents, and the new Force users who always appeared, as though the Force guided weeds up through cracks in the strongest roads. The Force knew, his uncle had said, and a lot of other rubbish Kylo had determinedly burnt out of his soul when he'd cast aside the Jedi nonsense. That weak child he was had been spitted on Kylo's own rage. The times he heard Luke's teachings in his head were aberrations, drivel to be purged.

"This one has the Force," his uncle's voice told him as he reread the report.

Lord Snoke didn't know. Kylo would have to report FN-2187 to his master, and let Snoke see if the youth was worthy of training or should be eliminated to quash the line. It was Kylo's duty to tell him.

Black-gloved fingers tapped the display. Master and student, that was always the way. The Jedi and the Sith had taken the same path, while his own master gathered Force sensitives like a ring of twisted mushrooms bloating around himself. To achieve final mastery of the Force, one must train another in the ways.

Without letting himself consider what he was doing, Kylo typed in a few swift edits and saved the report. The proper auditing eye would find the evidence of his work, but no one watched the upper echelons except each other, and none of the others who ranked this high had any clue of what the words meant.

He touched the commlink. "Have trooper FN-2187 sent to my quarters."

There was a pause. "Yes, sir."

Kylo's mouth twitched under his mask. He didn't have to read the mind of the underling at the other end of the comm. Not everyone requested stormtroopers for sexual purposes, and Kylo had not done so up to this point. Nevertheless, he was sure that would be the suspicion, and the rumor. Good. Better his inferiors, his rivals, and his master believe he was indulging himself physically than catch onto the plan forming in his mind now.

As he waited, he brought up the trooper's record and scanned it. He'd been tested for Force sensitivity as a child, the same as all the recruits, but had shown little aptitude then. He had been dismissed, hidden away like a precious treasure only Kylo could find.

The door chimed. "Enter."

The stormtrooper looked exactly like every other stormtrooper, which was the point of stormtroopers. Interchangeable, unremarkable, disposable. Kylo approached him, reaching out with his extra senses to feel FN-2187's curiosity, and his fear. He knew why the upper ranks sent for stormtroopers in their private quarters, too.

"State your designation," Kylo ordered, enjoying the fear.

"FN-2187. Sir."

"How long have you been in the stormtrooper program?"

"As long as I can remember, sir."

Kylo nodded to himself. "Remove your helmet."

The fear spiked again. Kylo relished it. His new student would know from the beginning who was in charge and who was not. FN-2187 removed the white helmet from his face and held it under his arm, still standing at attention. His record gave his age as six years Kylo's junior, and his eyes seemed younger. It occurred to Kylo that he had rarely seen any of the troopers' faces before now, which he guessed was the point. He could feel their minds, naturally, but to most of the other First Order commanders, the faceless drones were easy to send into battle like nothing more than droids.

Kylo turned away from him. "I read the report about your work on Ellit Minor. The Captain recommended you for a commendation for getting the rest of your squad out alive. How did you know the weapons cache was set to explode?"

"I don't know, sir."

"You knew something. Did one of the colonists tell you?"

"No, sir. It just seemed like something they would do before they fled."

"Did it? You thought a group of old women and children would have set a specific timer on the weapons cache while they were running for their lives?"

Without the mask, Kylo could see the minute flickers of muscle across the youth's face as he composed his thoughts. He wasn't only afraid of Kylo's intentions towards his body. The other rumors about Kylo Ren had come to his ears, had perhaps even been passed along by him. Kylo knew his own reputation, knew he was seen as unstable, angry, someone as likely to behead a messenger bearing bad news as he was to attack an enemy, even though that had only happened once at the news that his uncle had completely slipped their grasp and had left no trace of his whereabouts.

FN-2187 was frightened of Kylo's wrath as well as his appetites, but only a moment passed before he answered, "Yes, sir. I was sure they had. And I was right. Sir." The tiniest pause before the last word allowed stubborn pride to shine through the typical stormtrooper flatness.

Kylo said, "I've placed an object behind my terminal. Tell me what it is, or I will slay you." His red blade lit in his hand, casting a pink glow against the white armor of FN-2187's chest plate.

FN-2187 said, "It's a glove, sir. Black."

Kylo doused the blade. He felt the wave of relief flush through the stormtrooper, punctuated with a soft release of his breath.

"Good." He turned and retrieved the glove, placing it before them on his desk. "Your abilities manifest themselves when your life is in peril. I can train you to use them at your will."

"Sir?" The fear returned, a deeper fear than body or life.

"You have some Force ability. This isn't the first time you've had clairvoyant knowledge of something that protected you. You can hone that skill, learn to manipulate the Force to your own desires. With the proper training under my guidance, you could become powerful." Useful, certainly, Kylo mused in the privacy of his own thoughts. A weapon Snoke didn't know Kylo had could be deployed against him in time, and Kylo could assume his place. Not today, not tomorrow, perhaps not for years, but someday. Lord Snoke would show weakness, and Kylo's trained stormtrooper would be on duty at the right time, and Kylo could strike down his master.

He kept this hidden. He knew his own mask gave away nothing, and he could hide the wheels of his plans within the locks of his own mercurial mind.

Now, he stood before FN-2187. "Accept me as your master, and I will train you in the ways of the Force."

FN-2187 stared at him, shock naked on his face, and an annoyed twitch at his lips at the word "master." Despite years of conditioning, he showed all the signs of the same free will Phasma and that idiotic Hux tried to wipe from their soldiers at all possible turns.

"I don't understand, sir," and this was a clear lie. He grasped Kylo's meaning, but was buying time to consider the offer and its ramifications. Kylo watched him. Fascinating. If his other superiors understood how much independent thought FN-2187 was exhibiting, they'd have lobotomized him by now. Therefore, he was good at hiding. He could keep the secret of his tutelage from the others, from Lord Snoke.

"Don't be dull. Accept, or spend the rest of your miserable life wondering if you could have been something more than a foot soldier and wishing you had said yes."

Which was the other problem. He couldn't train the youth without his permission because nothing would come of it. He would tell his superiors the next chance he had, and Kylo would have to spin a tale to Snoke to save his own neck. FN-2187 must be willing, even if he was hesitant.

"What do I have to do?"

"Kneel. Swear your loyalty to me. Kiss the glove." He'd chosen it as the test for this reason.

A long moment passed. Kylo could feel the roiling emotions, though not the shape of his thoughts. In time, he would pry open FN-2187's mind and know all his secrets. Today, the stormtrooper fell to one knee, bowing. "I accept you as my teacher." He lifted the black glove from the desk and placed his lips against it. A shiver went through Kylo at the sight.

He placed his hand, clad in his more usual black gauntlet, on FN-2187's head. He hadn't missed the change in the word FN-2187 had chosen. Free will. Amazing. "Rise, my apprentice."

The Luke Skywalker in his head flashed a memory at him: a solemn boy with unruly dark hair clasping hands with the man who was like his second father, agreeing to learn as his uncle agreed to teach him, both anticipatory and a little scared, the promise to each other sealed with a big hug and a ruffle of Ben's hair even though he was getting too old for that. The image swept through him and was gone.

FN-2187 stood. Kylo was not going to hug him. "Your first lesson is to clear your mind and learn to focus." He walked FN-2187 through the initial exercise twice, reaching to his thoughts to check on his success. "Good." A bit of praise early on was the best encouragement.

When they finished, Kylo said, "Tell no one of this. Your training is best conducted in secrecy. I will summon you when it is time for your lessons. You may only practice when you are alone."

"I'm never alone."

"Then I will see that your assignments allow you to be alone. You must practice."

He nodded. Again, his thoughts were hidden but his emotions were clear. He was excited at this new chance but worried about what it meant. "What do I say when I'm asked?"

"Tell them what they expect to hear, that I'm using you for sex. Tell them nothing else. Let them build up their own assumptions when I send for you exclusively."

"Yes, sir."

"You will call me 'Master.'"

That hesitation again. "No, I should not, sir. If I'm in the habit of calling you 'Master,' I may say it by accident when we're not alone. Someone will find out. Sir."

Kylo watched his face. Teacher, not master, he had said even as he'd taken his vow. FN-2187 possessed a deeper strength of personality than the stormtrooper conditioning should ever have allowed. He truly was a find. "Your logic is sound even if your impudence is not." With a sudden ferocity, Kylo punched him in the eye, pulling the punch to avoid damaging his new apprentice overmuch.

Shocked, the youth fell back, reaching for his blaster, but he had come unarmed. Duty and self-defense warred in his stance.

Kylo turned his back on him deliberately. "Put your helmet back on and return to your duties. Should anyone see your bruises, they will believe the story."

He listened as FN-2187 placed his helmet back on. He felt as his apprentice's anger and fear rocked inside him, carefully quelled. The youth said nothing as he left Kylo's quarters.

* * *

"You need a name." Kylo watched FN-2187 move through basic lightsaber stances. Saying "Eff En Two One Eight Seven" over and over grated on Kylo's never-steady nerves. His suggested "Eight-Seven" was no better.

"Darth Awesome," said his apprentice, counting under his breath as he moved from position to position.

"The Sith were Darths. We have eradicated their superstitious nonsense along with that of the Jedi. Ours is a clear vision, free of mysticism."

"Right." The apprentice was obedient to a point, and insouciant past that point. He carefully felt out the edges of Kylo's patience during their sessions together, and remained on the sunny side. "Darth Badass."

"Eff En," Kylo snapped with a warning note in his voice.

"Darth Finn?"

Kylo growled at him. "Finn will do. It sounds enough like your designation should I have to use it outside our training time."

* * *

Back in the barracks, Finn rolled his latest lessons around in his head. He had to practice with Kylo Ren's lightsaber. The hilt felt good in his hands, but it wasn't quite right. His teacher said Finn would build his own soon enough.

Finn. He was Finn now.

He climbed into his bunk, the second up of three stacked. Above him, Nines was already snoring. Below him, Slip was settling. They didn't know his name. They didn't know his secret. They thought he was called into Kylo Ren's quarters nearly every night for other reasons. Slip, help him, was kind about it, letting Finn ahead of him in the food line at meals, asking if he wanted to talk about anything. That sort of thing would get him noticed in a bad way. Kindness was seen as weakness, and weakness must be eradicated.

"I'm fine," Finn told him after the second time. "Never ask again." He wanted to say it was for Slip's own good. He could tell his friend thought it was for other reasons. He'd seen Finn's black eye that first night.

His teacher hadn't hurt him since that day, not more than landing a lucky blow as they sparred hand-to-hand under his weird training routines. Finn had already been in prime physical form, but his awareness of his own body had grown. Senses he didn't know he had spread out around him, whispering thoughts of the other stormtroopers to him, even of the Command. Ren's mind was shielded, purposefully so. Finn would learn that trick some day, like so many other things he had yet to learn.

He closed his eyes and went through the basic lightsaber moves in his mind. Ren had removed his helmet and most of his armor to demonstrate the movement of his own muscles as he flowed from position to position. Finn had been equally surprised by the fiercely-toned form as he had been by the rather ordinary face under the mask. In his imaginings, Kylo Ren had been some twisted mutant, a shriveled creature like Supreme Leader Snoke. Instead, he was human, his features a little awkward, and his body in as perfect a condition as Finn's own, just like any other stormtrooper.

But Ren knew ancient magic, and the word for that was 'Jedi' according to the illicit holoreels the other stormtroopers sometimes smuggled onto their base. His history lessons told him the Jedi were a useless old monastic order wiped out for the good of the galaxy by the benevolent Empire. The 'reels told him what even Finn could tell were heavily-embellished tales of the legendary Luke Skywalker. His teacher told him, by accident, that Luke Skywalker had taught Ren. Master to apprentice, teacher to student, the cycle went on, and now it went through Finn, piercing him like a blaster bolt to the chest. Ren could call it what he wanted, but this was Jedi training.

Finn fell asleep thinking about the way Ren's muscles moved under his skin, and the steady look in his eyes as he practiced his old Jedi training, and for a while, was stable and normal.

* * *

"You're dropping your arm," Kylo said, watching his student with irritation. "You're leaving yourself open to an attack."

Obediently, Finn shifted his elbow. As soon as he moved, the arm dropped again.

"You're still doing it."

"Then attack me."

"If I had another lightsaber, I would."

"When do I get to build one of these myself?"

"When you're ready, and don't drop your arm like a youngling."

"Fine," Finn said, stopping and handing over the blade. "Show me."

Kylo had already discarded his helmet and the heaviest parts of his armor. These workouts were as easy for him fully-dressed but it was quicker to demonstrate this way, and he sweated less. He took the lightsaber in hand, and in an annoyed voice, counted his steps. "One. Two. Three. Four." He glanced at Finn, who was focused intently on his form. Good. He was paying attention.

"Five. Six."

Kylo felt a strange emotion from his apprentice. He faltered as he counted seven and eight, and turned to Finn, frowning. "What was that?"

"You messing up position seven," Finn replied with the prompt assurance of a student expected to point out intentional errors. His eyes met Kylo's and dropped. It wasn't out of courtesy or fear. The fear had dissipated after the second lesson, leaving only his curiosity. And now something else simmered under his gaze as he watched Kylo's body.

"That's enough for tonight. We'll resume tomorrow."

"Short lesson," Finn said, grabbing his own discarded armor pieces and reattaching them. "I'll get questions."

"Don't answer them."

"If I don't say something, they'll assume you popped the moment you went to slick up." His tone was half-mocking.

Kylo glared at him. "Maybe they'll assume you popped instead."

"Why would that matter? They think my purpose in being here is to get as naked as you need me to and wait for you to finish. I stay for a couple of hours so they assume you last a long time then nap and go for seconds." He snapped on the last piece of his armor.

A strange curiosity piqued him. Kylo did not consider his apprentice often, except to plan the next lesson and to check the duty logs on occasion to confirm Finn wasn't being placed into danger while he was learning to wield the Force. He hadn't spent time wondering about Finn's opinions on their ruse. Finn was a stormtrooper. They weren't supposed to have opinions.

"Does it bother you?"

"What?"

"That your fellow troopers and the rest of your command chain believe you're my lover?"

Finn blinked. "They don't. They think I'm your sex slave. Lovers are equals." He put on his helmet. "I'll see you tomorrow. Sir."

Before he could open the door, Kylo grabbed his arm. Again, he felt the same thread he'd picked up on before. Not anger. Not fear.

"Stay for now," Kylo said. "Lest my reputation be diminished." He tried to pass the words off as a casual joke.

"You said we were done."

"I changed my mind. I'm the master, you're the apprentice. I decide when we're finished."

"Whatever you say, teacher." His mouth was in a soft smirk as he pulled off his helmet again, and his eyes met Kylo's for a moment.

Kylo waited until he'd gone through the trouble of removing the armor again. The sight was pleasing every time, watching the man emerge from the white stormtrooper shell like some beautiful creature cracking away from its constrictive cocoon.

"We'll work on your telekinesis. Sit." They sat across from each other on the hard floor. Kylo placed the black glove between them. "Close your eyes and open your mind. Picture the glove. See it. See the shape of the leather. Feel the connection in the Force between you and it, between the glove and the animal it once was." Truth be told, the glove was synthleather, more flexible and durable than similar material from a truly organic source, but he felt Finn needed the extra guidance. "Can you picture it?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now lift it."

He felt Finn stretch out his infant powers, caressing the black synthleather with his mind. The limp shape trembled and flopped on the floor like a dying fish.

"You'll have to do better than that. Touch your own emotions. Use your anger and your fear."

Still the glove trembled.

"I'm not angry."

"Then I will punch you again."

The glove jerked upwards into the air, buoyed not by Finn's rage, but by the other emotion boiling inside him tonight. The thought of Kylo striking him had turned into something far more direct.

Desire.

Kylo opened his eyes, and saw the glove floating between them. "Good."

Finn's eyes opened slowly. He watched as if in a trance as the glove danced in the air, moving up and down, the fingers waltzing, before it fell to the floor with a dull thwap. He sucked in a gasp of air. "I didn't know I could do that."

"Once you have mastery of the Force, you can stop a blaster bolt in the air. You can choke the life out of your enemies."

"Show me." He wasn't pleading yet the smallest note of need was in his voice. Kylo's hands were bare, stripped of his gauntlets. They both watched him make a fist as he reached out with the Force and squeezed.

Finn's eyes grew large as his air cut off. To his credit, he didn't reach for his throat, only sat there as Kylo kept squeezing, watching him with those eyes that saw too much for a simple trooper.

Kylo let go. Finn breathed in a deep gulp. Then he nodded.

"Show me more. Please."

* * *

Alone again in his bunk, Finn couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he remembered the clutch of invisible fingers around his throat, remembered the detached look on Kylo Ren's face. He could have killed Finn, and his only regret would have been losing his promising apprentice before Finn could do anything useful. Finn had to accept he was a tool for his teacher, nothing more.

He daren't want more.

Privacy was a meaningless word in the barracks, not with eighty soldiers to one compartment. He'd spent every night since he'd been an adolescent listening to other troopers in other bunks trying to be quiet as they took care of their own needs.

Finn knew how to be quiet.

He came thinking about the hand at his throat, thinking about the face of the man who held his life in his hands and knew how to squeeze and squeeze and squeeze.

* * *

His helmet meant no one could see Finn's face when the summons came as it usually did. He could smile with impunity, even as he gave his customary shudder. Nines clasped his shoulder for a moment. Slip only watched him. "Eight-Seven, I can see if you're needed elsewhere. Someone else could report for duty." He let the words fall. Slip thought Finn was being hurt every night. He wanted to set another in his place, just once, even take on the terrible duty himself to spare his friend.

"It's fine," Finn said. "I'll see you later."

He reported to Kylo Ren's quarters, and found his teacher pacing. Finn couldn't help but fall into a more casual tone here, once the door was safely shut and they were alone. He'd spent years in terror of the unpredictable madman, but now he knew Ren was less a monster and more a wannabe Dark Lord. Obviously he could kill Finn, either by order or by accident, but the more time they spent together, the more Finn was certain Ren meant him no harm. As for his own intentions, Finn could be honest with himself.

"What is it?" he asked Kylo, setting aside his own helmet.

"News. We may have a lead on Luke Skywalker." That explained his mood, and warned Finn he would be testy tonight. Skywalker's name brought out the worst in him. Finn's careful questioning had assured him the elder Jedi had never been inappropriate with Kylo when he was the apprentice, but that he represented something far more dangerous.

"That's good news. We can put an end to him once and for all." Finn knew the party line. He'd been taught the First Order's goals his entire life. Maybe Kylo needed to hear the words to get his own head in order. A quick glance around the room suggested he'd already lashed out with his powers and his blade.

Kylo turned to him. His mask was off, set aside casually, and his gawky face was drawn into a tight anger Finn couldn't understand. His teacher advised him to reach into his innermost rage, but time and again, Finn found nothing there. Kylo stored away enough rage for them both, and anyway, Finn had other, better, more complicated emotions around this man.

Kylo tossed his lightsaber handle to him. "Practice. Go through the basic steps."

Finn removed his armor and took up the blade. Lighting it, he settled himself into ready position, then moved as gracefully as he could through the rest. Kylo watched him, his face impossible to read. "Faster."

Finn moved his body through the motions more quickly, feeling Kylo's gaze on him. He touched the core of his own power, letting the Force dictate his movements, surrendering himself to the flow of energies as he cut and thrust and parried against an invisible target.

When he emerged, he saw Kylo was still in the same meditative funk, not seeing Finn, dwelling on some distant history he wasn't sharing. Finn doused the lightsaber and handed the handle to him. "Show me how you do it again."

"You've watched me before."

"I like watching you."

Kylo took his lightsaber and lit it, splashing red light through the room. He moved with an animal grace, pushed by his own emotions as he slashed and stabbed. _By accident_ , Finn thought again as he jumped back, narrowly avoiding death by shish-kebab. Kylo's breath hardened with every movement even as the aura around him, the sparking nightmare Finn had begun to see these last few sessions, smoothed out under the repetitive motions, just as Finn had hoped.

"Feel better?" Finn asked, when Kylo closed his saber and snapped it to his belt.

"I'm fine."

"You're not," Finn said, his own pulse racing at the sight of his teacher's exertions. "You say you're fine, but this Skywalker situation had you all messed up."

"I'll hunt him down and I will kill him myself."

"And then you'll feel better?"

"And then I will have eradicated the weakness from my own soul."

He felt it then, jumping inside Kylo like one of those odd beans he'd learned about. A species of moth laid its eggs inside the beans of a plant found on one tropical world. When warmed, the larvae inside the beans wriggled, making the beans tremble and pop as though they were alive themselves, despite the larvae having hollowed them out inside. Inside Kylo Ren, an emotion twitched, moving him in ways he never intended.

Love.

He loved his former master, and hated himself for it. Finn saw into him as clear as plastisteel. With Skywalker's death, he could erase that emotion from himself and become the true tool of destruction Lord Snoke wanted.

Finn was far more concerned with his discovery than with Kylo's long-term goals. Kylo loved someone, perhaps more than one someone, was capable of loving someone, however stunted and gnarled that love might be.

Not letting himself think, because then he'd know for sure this was a terrible idea, he grabbed his teacher by the neck, and he dragged him to his lips for a fumbling kiss.

Shock opened Kylo's mouth against his, and Finn pressed in, knowing Kylo could choke the life from him if he so desired. Instead he tasted Kylo's hot breath, and felt his needy whine as the kiss deepened between them.

He felt Kylo's mind skittering against his, confusing and wanting. His own telepathic skills were too crude to reply, not yet trained enough to say, _Yes, please, now._ He made do with words.

"Let's make the rumors true," he said, and felt Kylo's resolve crumbling as his own hands found his teacher's neck and squeezed with a lover's grip.

The first time was fast, and truth be told, not great. Finn was an old hand at his own hand, and it wasn't hard to see so was Kylo. Neither knew much about undressing someone else the rest of the way, leaving them to shrug off their own garments. Finn felt a strong desire from Kylo for his mouth to suck on Kylo's prick, and Finn obliged by scooting his own body to put himself in view of Kylo's mouth. But the heights were wrong, and as good as it felt to have that first hot suck pulling at him, Finn's neck was going to break if he tried to swallow the prick in his hand at the same time.

They settled for licking, and squirming, and not quite the right friction until Kylo gasped and came between Finn's lips. Finn slid his own body up against Kylo's, jerking himself against the hard muscles of Kylo's belly as they rested their foreheads together.

It wasn't great, but but wasn't bad, and the flat taste of Kylo's semen was much improved by the deep, hungry kiss that followed as they lazed together in bed.

"We'll work on that," Kylo said in the same tone he used when Finn was dropping his elbow during lightsaber practice.

Finn couldn't stop his chuckle, and saw the amused light in Kylo's eyes, and the fragile sanity he'd regained.

"The rumors say you nap and go again."

"Who am I to argue with rumors?"

* * *

Finn's physical training paused and his mental training took precedence. He learned to levitate small objects with ease, and he learned to listen to the surface of Kylo's thoughts, first in instruction, and then in want as they discovered the soft, ticklish places on one another that brought both to a quick, heady peak. He learned the movement of Kylo's hips when he was ready to come against Finn's tongue, and he relished the shiver running through Kylo's body every time Finn buried himself deep inside him. Everyone already thought they'd been doing this for months, but the hidden truth made the reality that much more of a perfect secret hidden in plain sight.

He returned to his own bunk later and later. Slip pushed him when they were on duty and could speak alone. "Are you all right? Do you need to ask Captain Phasma for a reassignment to another base?"

Finn couldn't tell him the truth without telling him everything. He couldn't say, "I know what you think he's doing to me, and you're not completely wrong but that was never what this is about. He's calmer when we're together. I can hear him dreaming even when we're not sleeping in the same bed."

He said, "I can handle this." More troopers joined them, and they returned to their work.

Slip waited until they were alone in the room. "Eight-Seven, you have to watch your back."

"Slip, this is not your business."

Slip's hand took his shoulder. "Listen. I heard some of the others talking. You're Ren's favorite. Nobody likes him, especially not the other leaders. They can't touch him, but they can teach him a lesson through you. Be careful." His voice was strained, worried. He'd broken confidentiality, and if the other troopers he'd eavesdropped on found out, Slip would be the next one getting a lesson of his own.

Finn nodded, knowing what it had cost his friend. "Thanks. I'll be careful."

* * *

Kylo stalked his own floor while he waited for his apprentice. He'd sent the usual summons some time ago. When he'd repeated it, there had been no answer. He wasn't ready to contact the on-duty watch officer. It was one thing to allow the rest of the fleet to believe he was using Finn as an idle toy. It was another to show any kind of distress when his toy wasn't at his beck and call.

At last, the door chimed and Finn stepped into his quarters. His thoughts were shielded, something he'd been perfecting over the last several lessons. At this proximity, the shields weren't as effective, nor was his physical condition so easy to hide.

Emotions competed for precedence in Kylo's mind, and he was surprised to note the largest one was worry. "What happened?"

"I'm fine," Finn said, plucking off his armor.

"You're injured." Without waiting for permission, Kylo approached him and began inspecting his limbs under his black garment. His powers found mild contusions in multiple places, but no broken bones.

"I lost a fight." At first he kept his face away from Kylo's, kept his shields high. With an aggrieved sigh, he relaxed them and allowed Kylo a quick view of what had happened and why.

"You could have taken them easily in a fight. Your powers are strong enough."

"I know that!" Finn snapped, and real pain lay thick in his voice. "But if I use my powers to protect myself, they'll know what I am, and they'll figure out what you're doing." Kylo's fingers found his ribs, and the deeper bruising there. He coaxed a warm thread of power into the tissue. Finn said, "I let them think it was a lot worse than it was. I can take a punch and you've shown me how to roll with a kick. Stormtroopers aren't taught how to tell someone is feinting. It's fine."

"I can have them executed."

"Are you going to have whoever gave them the order executed, too? Better not to let on anything happened."

The worry hadn't faded, although anger surged. Finn had been injured to get to Kylo by one of his many enemies. Finn refused to let it bother him and advised caution rather than vengeance. "You would make a terrible Sith."

"Look who's talking," Finn said, cracking a smile. He had a bruise forming under one eye, the same eye Kylo had punched. Another unfamiliar emotion gnawed at him. Kylo wasn't used to feeling guilt, not any longer, not after everything.

"We'll work on your meditative stances tonight. It will ease some of the pain from your muscles." After, Kylo decided, he would see to the care of Finn's injuries personally, kissing every sore inch of skin and tiring him enough to sleep in Kylo's bunk for tonight.

While he slept, Kylo would review the security footage of the incident for himself, and he would find the stormtroopers involved, and he would interrogate them until they told him who had ordered them to beat Finn. Then he would bide his time. Patience, Kylo thought, enjoying another unfamiliar concept as he watched Finn settle into his first meditation pose. He would be patient.

* * *

Slip was dead and the lead on Luke Skywalker was a scrawny old man Finn watch lose his head to Kylo's blade. He felt the jump of confused emotions as he struck, anger and petulance and a twisted love Finn was only beginning to unpack. He watched Kylo stretch out his hand to freeze the Resistance pilot who seemed to know him.

"Seize the villagers," Kylo said after a long moment. "Bring them all for questioning."

"Are you sure, sir?" Captain Phasma asked him, confused, She'd already instructed Finn's squad to be ready to execute everyone they found.

"Are you defying my orders?" he asked, turning on her. The old man's head still lay at his feet.

"No, sir. Stormtroopers, seize the villagers."

Finn grabbed hold of a fleeing woman, shoving her aboard the transport beside the Resistance pilot. The clean-up here would take precious time before the prisoner could be interrogated. Finn didn't dare look at Kylo now, or go to his side.

Back aboard the Finalizer, Captain Phasma approached him, but before she could speak, the summons came. Finn must report to Kylo Ren's quarters.

"If you need me, ma'am," Finn said, letting the phrase hang.

"Go. Report to me when you are finished." Finn hurried away, hated the delicate disgust with which she'd spoken the last word.

The moment the door closed, Finn whipped off his mask. Kylo still wore his, staring at the weird melted helmet he kept.

"You knew them both, didn't you?"

"You will address me as 'Master.'"

"Yeah, whatever." Finn took a seat in the chair. "You know the prisoner. I could feel it."

"You know nothing."

"I know he's being tortured now. I know the only one who's going to get anything out of his head is you." Finn didn't add, "And I can feel how that's eating at you, how the blood of that old guy has soaked into your skin and won't let you breathe."

Kylo stared at Finn through his mask. "We're so close to Skywalker."

"Will it make you feel better to behead him, too?"

Kylo paused a long, long time, knowing Finn could read his emotions. "No."

The enormity of the idea brewing inside him frightened Finn. He could tap into that fear, use its power, make himself strong. He used it to bridge the distance between them, pull Kylo's cool mask against his forehead.

"We could run."

"There is nowhere we can run."

"Your pal Dameron has the information. He could show us where to go. We could get out of here, find our own place."

"Supreme Leader Snoke will hunt me down."

"Yeah, but you've got something he doesn't know about. That's why you trained me. I'm your hidden sabacc card." Finn pressed his lips against the cold, smooth skin of Kylo's black mask. "Let's get this guy and get out of here. You and me. We'll find Luke Skywalker, and you can yell at him until you do feel better, and I'll be beside you the whole time."

He felt the turmoil inside Kylo, felt the sharp edges of his mind splintering again, and felt him reach to Finn as his anchor.

"I'll say Dameron is to be brought to you for interrogation. Meet us in the shuttle bay. By the time they realize what we've done, we'll be parsecs away."

* * *

Kylo flew his shuttle smoothly out of the landing bay. Behind him, he sensed Finn's comforting presence and Dameron's suspicious glare as Finn removed his helmet.

"I'm still not telling you anything."

Kylo said, "If I wanted to drag the information from your head, I could. We both know that." All these reminders of his past battered him. The old Rebellion had given rise to children, and the children had been casual friends and playmates, and now Kylo considered lighting his blade to cut down this former friend. But Finn had a plan.

Find Skywalker. Settle the mad buzzing inside Kylo's mind once and for all, either by driving his lightsaber through his uncle's heart, or collapsing before him on the ground and begging Luke to do the same to Kylo instead.

"There's a droid," said Finn, his voice gone thoughtful. He turned to Dameron. "You're thinking about him. I can hear you. He's back on Jakku. He's got the information." To Kylo's surprise, he added, "Sorry. I didn't know I could read anyone else's mind except his."

Kylo changed his navigation plan. "Then we will return to Jakku."

"You're a Jedi?" Dameron asked Finn, obviously surprised himself.

"No," Kylo said loudly. "He is my apprentice, but we are beyond such paltry concepts as Jedi and Sith."

He sensed both roll their eyes at him, and he glowered to himself under his own mask. They would retrieve the droid, then he could rid himself of his annoying ex-friend before he gave Finn any ideas about joining Mother's silly, pointless Resistance.

First, Jakku. As the ship moved towards the desert world, he thought everything was going exactly according to plan.


End file.
